WELCOME VISITORS
But Ferdy did not need to wait till Thomas had made his inquiries, which
most likely would have taken some time, as he was not a young man who
cared to be hurried.
Miss Lilly in her quiet way was quite excited when she came the next
morning.
"Whom do you think I met yesterday afternoon on my way home, Ferdy?" she
said as soon as she and Chrissie came into the oriel room for the part
of the morning they now regularly passed there with the little invalid.
"I can guess," said Ferdy eagerly. "I believe it was Jesse Piggot," and
then he told Miss Lilly about having seen a boy's figure standing at the
end of the drive looking in.
"Poor fellow," said Miss Lilly, "I daresay he was watching in the hopes
of seeing some one who could--" but then she stopped short.
Ferdy looked up with curiosity.
"'Who could' what, Miss Lilly?" he asked.
His governess smiled.
"I think I mustn't tell you," she said. "It might disappoint the boy, if
he is wanting to give you a little surprise. And I scarcely think he
would have sent in a message by any one but me," she went on, speaking
more to herself than to Ferdy, "after what I promised him last night."
"What did you promise him, Miss Lilly?" the little boy asked. His
curiosity was greatly excited.
"Only that if possible I would get leave for him to come in and see you
for a few minutes," the young lady replied. "I must ask Mrs. Ross."
"Oh, I'm sure mamma wouldn't mind," said Ferdy. "I do so wonder what the
surprise is."
"You'd better not think about it," said Chrissie sagely. "That's what
_I_ do. I put things quite out of my mind if I know I can't find out
about them. Don't you, Miss Lilly?"
Miss Lilly smiled.
"I try to," she said, "but I own I find it very far from easy sometimes.
I think the best way to put something out of your mind is to put
something else in. So supposing we go on with our lessons, Ferdy."
"Oh, but first," said Ferdy eagerly, "first I must show you the
beautiful things mamma and Chris brought me yesterday. See here, Miss
Lilly."
And Eva examined his new possessions with great interest, even greater
interest than Ferdy knew, for her head was full of her new ideas about
Jesse, and the talent she believed he had shown in his carving. She
turned over the leaves of the little book of animal outlines till she
came to one of a pig, and she sat looking at it in silence for so long
that Christine peeped over her shoulder to see what it could be that had
so taken her fancy.
"It's a pig, Ferdy," she called out, laughing. "Miss Lilly, I didn't
know you were so fond of pigs. I'm sure there are much prettier animals
in the book than pigs."
"I daresay there are," said her governess good-naturedly. "But I _am_
very interested in pigs, especially their heads. I wish you would draw
me one, Ferdy, after lessons. I would like to see how you can do it."
Ferdy was quite pleased at the idea. But in the meantime Miss Lilly
reminded both children that they must give their attention to the
English history which was that morning's principal lesson.
Jesse Piggot did not make his appearance. It was a busy day at the farm,
and for once there was plenty for him to do. He had finished carving the
stick, and if he had dared he would have run off with it to the Watch
House. But what he had gone through lately had been of use to the boy.
He was becoming really anxious to get a good regular place at Farmer
Meare's, for he had no wish to go off again on "odd jobs" under the
tender mercies of his rough Draymoor cousins.
And, on the whole, Miss Lilly settled in her own mind that she was not
sorry he had not come that day, for she hoped that Mr. Ross had seen her
grandfather that morning and heard from him about the lessons in
wood-carving which the old doctor thought might be so good for Ferdy;
and more than that, she hoped that perhaps Mr. Ross's interest in poor
Jesse might be increased by what Dr. Lilly would tell about him.
It all turned out very nicely, as you will hear.
Late that afternoon, just as lessons were over and Chrissie had got her
mother's leave to walk a little bit of her way home with Miss Lilly,
Thomas appeared in the oriel room with a message from Mrs. Ross.
"Would Miss Lilly stay to have tea with Miss Christine and Master Ferdy?
Mrs. Ross would come up presently, but there was a gentleman in the
drawing-room with her just now."
"What a bother!" exclaimed Chrissie. "Now it will be too late for me to
go with you, Miss Lilly. I wish horrid, stupid gentlemen wouldn't come
to call and interrupt mamma when it's her time for coming up to see
Ferdy. And it's not really tea-time yet."
But tea appeared all the same. There was plainly some reason for Miss
Lilly's staying later than usual. And when the reason was explained in
the shape of Dr. Lilly, who put his kind old face in at the door half an
hour or so later, no one welcomed him more heartily than Chrissie,
though she got very red when Ferdy mischievously whispered to her to ask
if she counted _him_ "a horrid, stupid gentleman."
Dr. Lilly was a great favourite with the children. And never had Ferdy
been more pleased to see him than to-day.
"I am so glad you've come," he said, stretching out his little hand,
thinner and whiter than his old friend would have liked to see it. "Miss
Lilly says you know a lot about wood-carving, and I do so want to learn
to do it."
Dr. Lilly smiled.
"I am afraid my granddaughter has made you think me much cleverer than I
am, my dear boy," he replied. "I can't say I know much about it myself,
but I have a young friend who does, and if you really want to learn, I
daresay he might be of use to you."
Ferdy's eyes sparkled, and so did Miss Lilly's, for she knew her
grandfather too well to think that he would have spoken in this way to
Ferdy unless he had good reason for it.
"Grandfather must have seen Mr. Ross and got his consent for the
lessons," she thought.
And she looked as pleased as Ferdy himself, who was chattering away like
a little magpie to Dr. Lilly about all the lovely things he would make
if he really learnt to carve--or "cut out," as he kept calling it--very
nicely.
"What I'd like best of all to do is swallows," he said. "You see I've
got to know the swallows over this window so well. I do believe I know
each one of them sep'rately. And sometimes in the morning early--I can
hear them out of my bedroom window too--I really can almost tell what
they're talking about."
"Swallows are charming," said Dr. Lilly, "but to see them at their best
they should be on the wing. They are rather awkward-looking birds when
not flying."
"They've got _very_ nice faces," said Ferdy, who did not like to allow
that his friends were short of beauty in any way. "Their foreheads and
necks are such a pretty browny colour, and then their top feathers are a
soft sort of blue, greyey blue, which looks so nice over the white
underneath. I think they're awfully pretty altogether."
"You have watched them pretty closely, I see," said Dr. Lilly, pleased
at Ferdy's careful noticing of his feathered neighbours. "I love
swallows as much as you do, but it takes a master hand to carve
_movement_. You may begin with something easier, and who knows what you
may come to do in time."
Ferdy did not answer. He lay still, his blue eyes gazing up into the
sky, from which at that moment they almost seemed to have borrowed their
colour. Visions passed before his fancy of lovely things which he would
have found it difficult to describe, carvings such as none but a fairy
hand could fashion, of birds and flowers of beauty only to be seen in
dreams--it was a delight just to think of them. And one stood out from
the rest, a window like his own oriel window, but entwined with
wonderful foliage, and in one corner a nest, with a bird still almost on
the wing, poised on a branch hard by.
"Oh," and he all but spoke his fancy aloud, "I feel as if I could make
it _so_ lovely."
But just then, glancing downwards, though still out of doors, he gave a
little start.
"It _is_ him," he exclaimed. "Miss Lilly, dear, do look. Isn't that
Jesse, standing at the gate?"
Yes, Jesse it was. Not peeping in shyly, as some boys would have done.
That was not Mr. Jesse's way. No, there he stood, in the middle of the
open gateway, quite at his ease, one hand in his pocket, in the fellow
of which the other would have been, no doubt, if it had not been holding
an inconvenient shape of parcel--a long narrow parcel done up in a bit
of newspaper, which had seen better days; not the sort of parcel you
could possibly hide in a pocket. It was tea-time at the farm, and Jesse
had slipped down to the Watch House in hopes of catching sight of Miss
Lilly, for she had spoken of the afternoon as the best time for seeing
Ferdy.
"Of course it is Jesse," said the young lady. "Look, grandfather, don't
you think I may run down and ask Mrs. Ross to let me bring him in for a
few minutes?"
And off she went.
A minute or two later Ferdy and Chrissie, still looking out of the
window in great anxiety lest Jesse should get tired of waiting and go
away before Miss Lilly could stop him, saw their governess hurry up the
drive. And Jesse, as he caught sight of her, came forward, a little shy
and bashful now, as he tugged at his cap by way of a polite greeting.
Ferdy's face grew rosy with pleasure.
"They're coming in," he said to Dr. Lilly.
"Yes," said the old gentleman. "I will go over to the other side of the
room with the newspaper, so that the poor lad won't feel confused by
seeing so many people."
But all the same from behind the shelter of his newspaper the old
gentleman kept a look-out on the little scene passing before him.
Miss Lilly came in quickly, but Jesse hung back for a moment or two at
the door. He was almost dazzled at first by the bright prettiness before
him. For he had never seen such a charming room before, and though he
would not have understood it if it had been said to him, underneath his
rough outside Jesse had one of those natures that are much and quickly
alive to beauty of all kinds. And everything that love and good taste
could do to make the oriel room a pleasant prison for the little invalid
boy, had been done.
It was a very prettily shaped room to begin with, and the creeping
plants trained round the window outside were now almost in their full
summer richness. Roses peeped in with their soft blushing faces;
honeysuckle seemed climbing up by the help of its pink and scarlet
fingers; clematis, the dear old "traveller's joy," was there too, though
kept in proper restraint. The oriel window looked a perfect bower, for
inside, on the little table by Ferdy's couch, were flowers too--one of
his own moss-baskets, filled with wild hyacinth, and a beautiful large
petalled begonia, one of old Ferguson's special pets, which he had been
proud to send in to adorn Master Ferdy's room, and two lovely fairy-like
maiden-hair ferns.
And the little group in the window seemed in keeping with the flowers
and plants. There was the delicate face of the little invalid, and
pretty Christine with her fluffy golden hair, and Miss Lilly, slight and
dark-eyed, stooping over them, as she explained to Ferdy that Jesse was
longing to see him.
Altogether the poor boy, rude and rough as he was, felt as if he were
gazing at some beautiful picture; he would have liked to stand there
longer--the feelings that came over him were so new and so fascinating.
He did not see old Dr. Lilly behind his newspaper in the farther corner
of the room--he felt as if in a dream, and he quite started when Miss
Lilly, glancing round, spoke to him by name.
"Come in, Jesse," she said, "I do want Master Ferdy to see--you know
what."
Jesse was clutching the little walking-stick tightly. He had almost
forgotten about it. But he moved it from his right arm to his left, as
he caught sight of the small white hand stretched out to clasp his own
big brown one--though, after all, as hands go, the boy's were neither
thick nor clumsy.
"I'm so glad you've come back, Jesse," said Ferdy in his clear, rather
weak tones. "You didn't care for being away, did you? At least, not
much?"
"No, Master Ferdy, 'twas terrible rough," said the boy. "I'm glad to be
back again, though I'd be still gladder if Mr. Meare'd take me on
reg'lar like."
"I hope he will soon," said Ferdy. "I daresay papa wouldn't mind saying
something to him about it, if it would be any good. I'll ask him. But
what's that you've got wrapped up so tight, Jesse?"
Jesse reddened.
"Then the young lady didn't tell you?" he said, half turning to Miss
Lilly.
"Of course not," she replied. "Don't you remember, Jesse, I said you
should give it to Master Ferdy yourself?"
Jesse fumbled away at the strips of newspaper he had wound round his
stick, till Ferdy's eyes, watching with keen interest, caught sight of
the ears and the eyes and then the snout of the grotesque but
unmistakable pig's head--"old Jerry--the biggest porker at the farm."
"Oh, Jesse," cried Ferdy, his face radiant with delight, "_how_ lovely!"
and though the word was not quite exactly what one would have chosen, it
sounded quite perfect to Jesse--it showed him that Master Ferdy "were
right down pleased."
"'Tis only a bit o' nonsense," he murmured as he stuffed the stick into
the little invalid's hands. "I thought it'd make you laugh, Master
Ferdy. I took it off old Jerry--you know old Jerry--the fat old fellow
as grunts so loud for his dinner."
"Of course I remember him," said Ferdy. "Don't you, Christine? We've
often laughed at him when we've run in to look at the pigs. Isn't it
_capital_? Do you really mean that you cut it out yourself, Jesse? Why,
I'd _never_ be able to cut out like that! He really looks as if he was
just going to open his mouth to gobble up his dinner, doesn't he, Miss
Lilly?"
"He's very good--very good indeed," she replied. And then raising her
voice a little, "Grandfather," she said, "would you mind coming over
here to look at Jesse's carving?"
Dr. Lilly crossed the room willingly. Truth to tell, the newspaper had
not been getting very much of his attention during the last few minutes.
In his own mind he had been prepared for some little kindly exaggeration
on Eva's part of Jesse's skill, so that he was really surprised when he
took the stick in his own hands and examined it critically, to see the
undoubted talent--to say the least--the work showed.
Rough and unfinished and entirely "untaught" work of course it was. But
that is exactly the sort of thing to judge by. It was the _spirit_ of it
that was so good, though I daresay you will think that a curious word to
apply to the rude carving of so very "unspiritual" a subject as an old
pig's head, by a peasant boy! All the same I think I am right in using
the expression.
"Life-like and certainly original," murmured Dr. Lilly. "Grotesque, of
course--that is all right, that is always how they begin. But we must be
careful--very careful," he went on to himself in a still lower tone of
voice.
And aloud he only said, as he looked up with a smile, "Very good, my
boy, very good. You could not have a better amusement for your idle
hours than trying to copy what you see in the world about you. It is the
_seeing_ that matters. You must have watched this old fellow pretty
closely to understand his look, have you not?"
Jesse, half pleased, half shy, answered rather gruffly. "He do be a
queer chap, to be sure. Master Ferdy, and Missie too, has often laughed
at him when they've been up at the farm. And that's how I come to think
of doing him on a stick. And many a time," he went on, as if half
ashamed of the childishness of the occupation, "there's naught else I
can do to make the time pass, so to say."
"You could not have done better," said the old doctor kindly. "Don't
think it is waste of time to try your hand at this sort of thing after
your other work is done. I hope you may learn to carve much better. A
little teaching would help you on a good deal, and proper tools and
knowledge of the different kinds of wood."
Jesse's face expressed great interest, but then it clouded over a
little.
"Yes, sir," he agreed, "but I dunnot see how I could get the teaching.
There's nothing like that about here--not like in big towns, where they
say there's teaching for nothing, or next to nothing--evenings at the
Institutes."
"Ah well, help comes to those who help themselves. Master Ferdy may be
able to give you some hints if he learns carving himself. And he can
tell you some stories of the poor country boys in Switzerland and some
parts of Germany--how they work away all by themselves till they learn
to make all sorts of beautiful things. Have you any other bits of
carving by you that you could show me?"
Again Jesse's brown face lighted up, and Ferdy listened eagerly.
"Oh lor, yes, sir, all manner of nonsense--whistles, sir, though there's
some sense in whistles, to be sure," with a twinkle of fun.
"Then bring me a pocketful of nonsense this evening--no, to-morrow
evening will be better--to my house at Bollins. You know it, of course?
And we'll have a look over them together. Perhaps I may have a friend
with me, who knows more about carving than I do."
"And after Dr. Lilly has seen them, please bring some of them for me to
see too, Jesse," said Ferdy. "When can he come again, do you think, Miss
Lilly?"
Miss Lilly considered.
"On Friday afternoon. Can you get off for half an hour on Friday about
this time, Jesse?"
"Oh yes, miss, no fear but I can," the boy replied.
"And thank you ever so many times--a great, great many times, for old
Jerry," said Ferdy as he stretched out his little hand in farewell.
Jesse beamed with pleasure.
"I'll see if I can't do something better for you, Master Ferdy," he
said.
And to himself he added, "It's a deal sensibler, after all, than
knocking up after mischief all the evening--a-shamming to smoke and
a-settin' trees on fire." For this had been one of his worst misdeeds in
the village not many months before, when he and some other boys had
hidden their so-called "cigars" of rolled-up leaves, still smouldering,
in the hollow of an old oak, and frightened everybody out of their wits
in the night by the conflagration which ended the days of the poor tree
and threatened to spread farther.
Still more pleased would he have been could he have overheard Ferdy's
words after he had gone.
"Isn't it really capital, Dr. Lilly? I don't believe I could _ever_ do
anything so like _real_ as this old Jerry."